British Somaliland

1910 picture post card (real photo of troops training on a beach) to South Africa with a 1A cancelled BERBERA 21 JA 10. The card was addressed to Willowmore but redirected on arrival to Malmesbury where it received an arrival cancel of FE 22 10. A boxed ‘STOPPAGE FEE’ cachet with a ‘1/2d’ handstamp alongside denotes the fee paid. The Post Office Act of 1882 stated that “Any letter, post card, packet or newspaper arrested or intercepted through the post, at the request of the sender or the addressee thereof shall be liable to a charge equal to the ordinary rate of postage from the place of origin ….” This is intended to apply to any case where the sender of a letter may desire its stoppage during transmission for the purpose of amending the address or redirecting to a fresh address. A rarely seen cachet and a fine item from Somaliland to a very uncommon destination.